Swizzle sticks at the ready. Christmas is not just the season of goodwill to all men. It is the season of champagne cocktails and sherry, of glittering glasses and the clink of ice, of big parties, family gatherings and glamorous soirées.

My new book, How to Drink at Christmas, offers ideas and advice on what to quaff at shouty evenings with friends or full-on bashes, what’ll go best with Christmas dinner and the perfect tipples with which to see in the New Year (lavish cup of hot chocolate, anyone?)

Here is a small selection of some of my favourite drinks for entertaining, whether you’re planning a quiet(ish) night in or a bigger, more rumbustious, party.

Two cocktails for intimate evenings

It only takes a few minutes to get out the shaker and make a cocktail, but that’s a few minutes you can’t afford if you have a couple of dozen thirsty guests baying at the kitchen door. That’s why these drinks are better enjoyed in the company of a few close friends.

With its smell of molten demerara that rises like vapour under the heat of a morning Caribbean sun, this cocktail is a sophisticated take on a rum punch. It is, however, quite a lot stronger, with an edge that makes you sip, not gulp. Do make sure you use aged rum, with its deeper, richer, more Christmassy flavour. The drink was invented by my friend Joe during a stay in Bramhope, West Yorkshire — hence the name — and tweaked in my kitchen.

50ml golden rum (I use El Dorado 5 Year Old)

Juice of half a lime

Juice of 3 clementines

Large dash Angostura bitters

3ml gomme syrup

Put all the ingredients in a shaker with some ice. Shake hard and strain into a cold martini glass.

Cranberry and clementine

A quite delicious short drink that combines two highly seasonal ingredients in a single glass. Cosmopolitan fans will love it.

1.5 parts cranberry purée (see below)

1.5 parts vodka

1 part clementine juice

0.75 parts Cointreau

Put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shake hard until mixed and very cold, then double-strain into a martini glass.

Sparkling cocktails for larger parties

The fizz-based cocktail is the perfect drink for large parties, and not just because a full flute with tiny beads of air rushing to the surface always looks and feels the part. Any finicky preparation for these drinks is done upfront so they can be turned out very quickly. You can also get away with using cheaper fizz than you might if serving it neat. The Veneziano works best with prosecco, but for the others you could try cava or other sparkling wines. The one thing you mustn’t use is champagne – its yeasty taste gets in the way.

Veneziano

Known in Venice as uno spritz, this is blissfully low in alcohol and tastes delicious with green olives. Aperol is a brand of Italian bitters, a bit like Campari but less boozy, paler and a shade sweeter; it’s now stocked by Sainsbury’s.

1 part Aperol

1 part sparkling water

4 parts prosecco

Mix all the ingredients together in a glass or a jug. Serve at once.

Cava-calva

Here the heady taste of apple brandy is fleshed out with fresh, sweet apple juice. Robust cava works well here but you could use any sparkling wine.

1 part calvados

1 part fresh apple juice

8 parts sparkling white wine

Mix the calvados and apple juice in a glass or jug. Add the sparkling wine and you’re ready to go.

Sloe gin fizz

An easy way to enjoy two good things: fizz and English sloe gin.

1 part sloe gin

3 parts white sparkling wine

Mix together in a flute or jug and serve.

Drinks for drivers

I have nothing against drinks that have no alcohol in them. Au contraire. I’d even go so far as to say that you can have more fun at a party as a teetotaller because it’s easier to avoid insulting your fellow guests.

The most important ingredient in a non-alcoholic drink is a bit of care. It’s fine to hand someone a glass and shove them in the direction of the cold tap if they’ve just come in from a long-distance run. Otherwise, a little ceremony goes a long way.

Cranberry cordial

This home-made cranberry purée tastes fresher and sharper than a bought cordial. It also looks festively jewel-bright in the glass. You can add it to tonic, sparkling or tap water to make a long refreshing drink.

300g cranberries, either frozen or fresh

200ml water

100g sugar

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan on a medium heat. Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer for two minutes. Turn off the heat, allow it to cool slightly (if you don’t let it cool a little, it will spit all over when you use the blender) and then blitz to a purée using either a hand-blender or food processor. Strain the purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a jug to remove the seeds. It should be quite thick and very smooth. This will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Dilute to taste and serve with ice and thick half slices of orange.

Red grapefruit and elderflower fizz

The gentle smell of white elderflower blossom has become hugely popular in soft drinks. Here it marries so well with the blood grapefruit that you would swear there was a third, hidden, ingredient.

200ml red grapefruit juice

100ml elderflower cordial

800ml fizzy water

Pour the elderflower cordial into a jug. Add the grapefruit juice, then the fizzy water, stir and then pour into ice-filled glasses, adding a sprig of mint to each one if you like.

Pavlovian G&T

You still get the satisfying clatter of ice in a sturdy tumbler, the pssst of the tonic can as it’s opened and the gentle crackling fizz as it is poured over the ice. T without G is a very good way to make non-drinkers fit in, rather than having them standing clutching a Belisha beacon of orange juice so everyone else naggingly asks why they don’t have a “proper” drink.

4 or 5 ice cubes

1 small can of tonic

½ thick slice lemon

Put the ice in a chunky tumbler. Add the tonic, squeeze the lemon slightly over the drink to release a few drops of juice, drop it into the tonic and you’re done.